


thunderstorms

by na_scathach



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, But it's not super prevelent lol, Drabble, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Short One Shot, nothing graphic and it's in the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/na_scathach/pseuds/na_scathach
Summary: jason has spent many years putting bandages on leo valdez.
Relationships: (kind of?) - Relationship, Jason Grace & Leo Valdez, Jason Grace/Leo Valdez
Comments: 12
Kudos: 124





	thunderstorms

**Author's Note:**

> girl help i can't write anymore. have this while i try to motive myself. my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/deithe).   
> btw no major warnings. depictions of some injuries but nothing graphic. there are also past illusions to child abuse, but again, nothing graphic. please take care <3

Leo is sitting on Jason’s marble countertop, legs swinging and bruised and bloodied hands cradled in his lap. Jason wants to make fun of how short he is, more instinct than anything, but the dark yellow-and-purple bruise on his right cheek and his bloodied mouth stop him in his tracks. 

Jason’s house is empty, and Jason counts his blessings. Helen wouldn’t care, but she’d be nosy and Jason likes when Helen does her very best to ignore both Jason and his friends. 

Leo is leaning against the cupboards, wet curls plastered to his forehead, his bronze skin glistening with rain. His eyes are fixed on a point to the right of him, not really looking at anything. He’s half-heartedly humming something, barely audible over the crashing rain outside, rushing up against the windows. Jason should turn on the lights in here. He doesn’t. The grey light from outside will have to do. 

The first-aid box he found in his bathroom upstairs is filled with half-empty supplies. Jason remembers using it  _ a lot  _ when Jason was learning how to ride a bike when he was 12. Then when Leo and Piper learned how to skateboard when they were 14. Jason still remembers feeling accomplishment when he cleaned Piper’s scrapes and scabs with disinfectant and put a band-aid on them. Leo always said it never hurt and refused treatment, though he did like the ninja turtle band-aids, wearing them like badges of honor. He used to say it made him look rugged and cool, with all his half-healed scars and cuts. All of 5ft even, black curls untamed and wild, telling Jason that he was too cool for proper first aid, even when he tried to do a kick-flip over the curb outside Piper’s house and fell, face-first, knocking out one of his back teeth. 

It was still gone. A permanent reminder of his tween stupidity. 

He drops the box beside Leo’s thigh on the countertop, and Leo startles, head whipping around to look at Jason. His left eye is slightly bloodshot and the bruise looks worse up close, spreading from under his left eye all the way down to his jaw. His lip is painfully swollen and Jason winches. 

“That bad, huh?” Leo asks, voice rough and garbled from his lip. “Can’t believe Tavy fucked up the moneymaker” and Leo tries to smile at the end, but it just ends up looking like a grimace. 

Jason huffs, looking away from Leo and down at the first aid kit. 

“Hands,” Jason orders, and Leo sighs. 

“Calm down, Jace, it’s some minor cuts and bruises. I’ve had worse working at the garage,” he tells him, and Jason looks back up at him. They’re the same height now that Leo has the added bonus of the kitchen countertop, so Jason can see clearly into Leo’s deep brown eyes. He has oddly long eyelashes. 

“Hands,” Jason says again, forcing his eyes away from Leo. 

Leo sighs and Jason can  _ feel  _ his eye roll, but he holds up his slightly shaking hands. His long, deft fingers are dusted with drying blood from his split knuckles, darker bruises crawling up his fingers. One of his fingers looks sprained. Left ring finger. Leo’s ambidextrous, but he’s still going to use this as an excuse to get off work in school. 

Jason, very, very carefully, takes Leo’s hands in his. His hands feel like paws to Leo’s skillful, thin fingers. He’s seen Leo weave wires together and does intricate, delicate tasks when building. Soldering and knitting and all with precise, careful movements. 

Jason, suddenly, remembers Will Solace, looking mournfully at Leo’s hands-

“Surgeon’s hands” Jason mumbles and he can feel Leo’s quizzical stare on the top of his head. 

Jason’s senses come back to him and a flush spreads easily across his wet, pale skin. He gingerly drops Leo’s hands and reaches for the bandages, stepping closer to Leo, close enough that Leo’s thigh was pressed against Jason’s hip. 

Jason has spent many years putting bandages on Leo Valdez. 

Leo was pretty accident-prone, from cutting his palm when he was cooking or slamming his head off the undercarriage of a car when he was under it. Of course, back when they were 12 years old and Leo still lived with his aunt and he used to climb in Jason’s window, dripping blood, it was very different. 

Now its just dumb accidents. And fights, apparently. 

Jason weaves the bandage over Leo’s fingers and knuckles. Leo has never been a physically violent person. Ever. If he could get out of a sticky situation with jokes or just defusing the tension, he would. He never got into fights. Leo was also 120 pounds soaking wet and a solid 5’5ft. Octavian may have been skinny, but he was 6ft handily and was a sneaky asshole. Leo was too smart to get into fights. Physical ones, anyway. 

He moves onto the right hand. Leo’s skin is dark brown, a sharp contrast against Jason’s pale skin. He’s warm, despite spending over 20 minutes walking in the rain half an hour ago. His nails are bitten, red, painful wicks around the base of his nails. Jason stops the process when it comes to his ring finger. Leo’s mom’s engineer ring glints in the grey light. 

“Can I take it off?”

Leo doesn’t answer for a few moments, and Jason’s heart-rate picks up. He glances up at Leo, who’s staring at where Jason’s hand is cupping his own, dark brows furrowed in thought. 

“Leo?”

Leo startles, eyes flicking up to meet Jason’s. “Sorry, yeah, think Octopus hit me on the head a bit too hard,” he jokes, but it’s rushed. It’s very hard to tell if Leo ever blushes, but Jason can tell by the warmth coming off his skin, the way his lips press together-

Jason slips the ring off and places it on the marble. 

Thunder claps outside and they both jump, eyes wide as they gaze out of the nearest window. Jason’s grip on Leo’s hand tightens, just a bit. He hates thunder. 

Leo squeezes back and Jason’s throat closes up like he’s having an allergic reaction. Heat rushes up from his neck all the way to his ears.

“We’re okay,” Leo tells him, not even looking at him, but its-

Nice. Sweet.

His eyes dart back down to his task, while Leo stares out at the thunderstorm beginning outside. 

He finishes pretty quickly with Leo’s hands and moves on, disinfecting the cuts on his face, Leo letting out a hiss or huff of pain every so often. Jason mumbles apologies, smiling when Leo jokes off the pain. 

“D’you think Doc Oc is crying over his wounds too?” Leo asks, absentmindedly, while Jason is fishing an icepack out of his freezer. “Bet he’s crying like a baby. A big, weird, creepy baby who has issues and is a furry”

“I don’t think Octavian is a furry, Leo”

Leo laughs, rolling his eyes, like Jason is making a silly mistake “Of course he is. Didn’t he steal Jackson’s Pillow Pet back in Sophmore Year? That’s only something a furry would do” and Leo says this with authority, his legs swinging again, hitting against the cupboards. 

Jason throws an ice-pack at him and Leo barely catches it, pouting at Jason when it’s safely in his hands. “Give a guy some heads-up first, right? Don’t just go chucking icepacks at poor, injured boys”

“They’re not  _ poor injured boys _ if they’re the ones who started the fight,” and Leo winces, trying to look sheepish. He places the icepack against his cheek and lip, the torrential downpour outside filling the silence

“Leo,” Jason starts, crossing his arms over his soaked shirt. “I’m serious. You could have been suspended. Octavian could press  _ charges.  _ Why the hell-”

“I know!” Leo bursts out, “It was dumb and I shouldn’t have done it but it’s done now so can we drop it? Please?”

Jason stops. Lighting flashes in the distance. 

He crosses back to Leo, taking the ice-pack from Leo’s face. Leo never bursts out. Ever. Leo has a tight rein on his emotions, only showing what he wants to show. 

“Leo,”

Leo takes a deep breath. Looks Jason in the eye. 

“Why did you start that fight?”

“It was dumb, Jay-bird. Like, super dumb. It’s,  _ extraordinarily _ dumb.”

“Doesn’t matter. It was important enough for you to sucker punch Octavian Agosti in the face”

Leo goes to bite his lip like he usually does when he’s overthinking stuff, but is met with the huge lump on his lip. He pouts and Jason-

The rain pours faster, somehow. 

“Leo-”

“Can we not?” Leo asks, and he sounds tired. He sounds  _ exhausted.  _ “I’ll tell you, just- not tonight”

Leo suddenly looks very young. Jason is standing so close, close enough to feel his warm breath across his skin, and Leo looks his age, for once. 17 years old and  _ tired.  _ His eyes are dull and the skin around his eyes is bruised and purple. His hands are still shaking and the bruise around his cheek reminds Jason of when Rosa Valdez was the person hated most in the world (he still hates her. she’s just no longer a threat to leo). 

“Okay,” Jason relents, “okay”

Gratitude sparks across Leo’s face and Jason is close enough to see his eyes crinkle slightly. “Cool, can I stay here tonight? I’m pretty sure Silena and Charlie will kill me if I come home like this”

“They wouldn’t,” he tells Leo, “but sure. Go change, I’m pretty sure you left some clothes here”

And-

Leo doesn’t move. 

They’re so close. If Jason were braver, if Jason wasn’t Jason, he’d reach out and take Leo’s hand, use the other to cup his cheek and-

But Jason  _ is  _ a coward. Through and Through. He can see Leo’s eyelashes and faint freckles and minor traces of acne. He can see the way his tongue darts out to wet his lips-

He steps back. 

Leo jumps down from his perch and his eyes follow Jason. Was he waiting too? Or is he just weirded out by Jason? He tries to find an answer in Leo’s face but he finds nothing. Blank. 

Leo quietly walks out of the kitchen and upstairs feet padding on the carpet. 

Thunder booms outside and the rain comes down in sheets, filling Jason’s head with blood and lips and thunderstorms.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos make me happy. comments? ever sexier. say hello at my [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/deithe) if you want to!


End file.
